Thursday, August 01, 2019

Virginia is for FRIENDS!

You may have heard that "Virginia is for Lovers." and I have no idea how that whole slogan got started, but I am here to tell you that Virginia is for Quilters, and for Friends!

A bike ride plan from White Top down to Damascus had to be delayed for Maryethel and her hubby due to impending rain.

Rain. Rain. Rain. Every day there has been rain! I’m not complaining – just stating the facts, Jack.

And the rains DID come not long after my visitors had left – so it was a good call not to get caught on bikes out on a muddy trail somewhere where shelter would be hard to find.

So instead – they rescheduled their trip and made a little jaunt from Damascus to Mouth of Wilson for a visit!

And a drop off!

I am biding my time while the contractors finish up in the bathrooms at Quiltville Inn – longing to get in there and DECORATE!

Due to some downsizing, Maryethel brought me her grandmother’s thread cabinet – complete with thread spools. This is going to brighten a corner of a room – or perhaps a hallway vignette – I’m not sure yet, but those little spools (some still with labels!) will have a happy place for all to enjoy.

Sew Many Sewing Birds!

(And one Squirrel!)

I have a couple of these of my own to add to the collection – or what NOW is a collection where before it was just a couple. Maryethel has been collecting these for decades, many of them looking like they had been made in a school woodshop type of activity – hand painted and perhaps given to mom for Mother’s Day. Or were the patterns published in magazines and helpful hubbies made them for their wives?

I love how different they are and the plan is now to put some shelves high on the wall in the Sewing Den at the Inn to showcase these.

Do you have a sewing bird? I’ll be looking for more vintage scissors to add to the ones that are missing them.

While most of the scissors come through the heads to look like beaks where they exit – we morbidly laughed at the poor, poor roster who received scissors through the neck and must be headed to the stew pot. LOL!

Too much sewing fun!

There are wonderful things waiting to be shared that I brought home from Pennsylvania. Due to the construction, everything is still boxed up and safe from drywall dust. When opportunity arises, I’ll share those items with you! I can’t wait for the “putting on the finishing touches” to begin.

Also – In the front of my mind I’m mentally taking on the big job of figuring out what to do with design walls for the Quilting Quarters – thinking of flannel sheets to cover them so they are seamless. Anyone do that?

Table Saw On Porch.

Contractor Still Life.

Tiling is happening in the downstairs bath!

Back upstairs bath has grout!

And a shower head! Yippee!

Now we wait for glass doors.

The front upstairs bath is likely to get grouted today. I just LOVE the combination of the 3 kinds of tile – a match made in scrappy girl heaven.

I wondered while things smelled so fresh when I entered the kitchen – fruity? What was that smell?

Passion Fruit Fabuloso! LOL!

It figures. I’ve loved the lilac one for cleaning for a long time – I just may have to up my fragrance game when it comes to cleaners – this really did smell nice and not like a cleaner at all.

Evening binding to Outlander on Netflix.

I've read all of the books since they started in the early 1990s. I have them all in hard back and have also listed to all the audio books. So it's fun to see what they are doing with the TV version.

I may have to get sucked in to buying the other seasons – or wait impatiently for them to eventually show up on Netflix since I don’t get Starz. I can’t see getting a monthly subscription when I wouldn’t really use it.

This also happened yesterday -

Stash Depletion Project! My Winter Blues quilt is a whopping 85" x 98". I think I have sewn myself out of about 8 yards of older blue stash! This makes me so happy and my shelves are breathing a little bit easier. LOL!

These giant floral clusters are nearly as big as my head!

I pieced the fabric in columns of different widths, and will be mounting the quilt sideways on the long arm so the long seams lie along the length of the backing bar, instead of rolling and wrapping around it and around it and around it.

Are you a scrappy back maker? What is your favorite method for piecing a quilt back?Don’t forget that our July ‘19 Quilty Box Gift-Away is still going on! Enter to win ON THAT POST. The two winners will be drawn on Sunday.

Quiltville Quote of the Day

Vintage Star Quilt made of silks, satins, crepe

and other slinky fabrics found in North Carolina.

This I am sure of! Are any of these tripping you up?Time to head to the long arm – have a wonderful Thursday, everyone!

42 comments:

I covered my design boards with polar fleece (bought when it was on sale). It's 50-60" wide, so it was wide enough to cover 48" wide insulation boards, without seams. It holds my blocks better than flannel or cotton batting did, and it doesn't pill. Easy to clean raveling threads off it with a lint roller, too.

Good Morning Bonnie, I just finished my design wall. I covered it first with muslin to hide my tape seams (I used 3 stryfoam insulation boards taped together with duct tape) and then put on a piece of batting - it works like a dream!

I buy 72" crafter felt x2 yards. So I have a square on the wall behind my piecing machine. I've covered a foam wallboard with crafter felt at the cabin where I have a much smaller space, so that one is mobile. It needs to be changed out after about 12 years :-)

My design boards is actually two 4x8 insulation boards covered with cotton batting. I stack them against the wall horizontally.I didn't join them together for versatility. I can stack them one in front of the other so I can lay out the top rows comfortably.When ready I just slide it up and place it on top of the other board and continue. I can put them under my king bed if I wanted to store them...ummm....that's never happened.LOL

I try to use up scraps from the front in the back, especially to keep me from having to buy an extra full length, full yardage piece for the back. For example, if the quilt is 65x72, you can bet that I'm making up 21 inches in scraps from the front so I don't have to buy a second 72 inch length of backing fabric. And so for those, I'll either set in an off center 20-something inch strip down the length or I'll do two 10+ inch strips on the side, etc. It adds interest to the quilt back and it's like a little surprise when you flip the quilt over. :)

My design wall is two lengths of 44 inch wide flannel seamed together. I attached small plastic loops to the top edge, tapped brads into the wall, and hung the whole thing up. Easy peasy! And I, also, clean mine with a lint roller when needed.

I love my design wall but wouldn't recommend mine, though the price was right. I covered two deeply discounted hollow core doors with white flannel. They're mobile and lightweight, when company requires use of the guest bedroom, but they're unwieldy, shift apart, and pins must be placed in vertically. Even with it's faults, it's one of my best tools.

Yes, I used a white king-sized flannel flat sheet for my design wall. Like Evelyn Mattonen's, mentioned above, it is over styrofoam insulation panels. It has been in place for almost 18 years and is still in good shape. We framed it with 2 3/8" baseboards screwed into the wall to cover and stabilize the sheet edges. They can be removed and replaced easily when it's time to replace the sheet.

Big binder clips hold strips of flannel to cupboard doors at one end of the studio! I have them situated so they are close to each other, but straddle the doors, so i can access the cupboards if need arises. I had a weird thought from the signature quilts... they will be a thing of the past! Youngsters are not learning to sign their names in cursive! What a lost art, perhaps the pendulum will swing and cursive writing will be taught again, maybe as an art class!.. it's a shame, too, because the practice helps develop the brain and small muscle control... i'm getting old, sigh... Life is good... Cats in Carlsbad CA

What great treasures!! I laughed and loved your comment... poor, poor roster who received scissors through the neck and must be headed to the stew pot.I love your sense of humor and pointing things out I might miss. I've learned a lot from you. Thanks for the updates of Quiltville Inn, aquired treasures, class and quilt progress...and your quotes.Enjoy your day!!

I'm kind of new to the scrappy-back game, but I recently pieced one that I hope will work out well. The quilt top (still in progress) will be 96" square. I took nine 1-yard cuts from stash, cut them all to 35" square, and pieced them into a gigantic 9-patch. With 1/2" seams, the back should be about 103" square. I pieced the back first so that the leftovers, the 6-7" wide strips along the selvages, could get added into the blocks on the front. And now those nine 1-yard pieces are GONE. :)

Virginia is for Lovers came around because VA has all kinds of things to do and see. Instead of VA is for beach lovers, VA is for wine lovers, VA is for battlefield lovers, etc. Virginia is for Lovers (of all kinds of things). So...Virginia is for Quilt Lovers, too :)

My portable wall is all flannel. I have used binder clips oncasion. Clipped to a pantry cupboard turned fabric closet. Love the chickens, rooster and Squirrel. Wonder what happened to my moms?? Antique scissors, the PO might question the contents of packages heading your way in the future.

Like many others, I also use insulation boards. They store behind a dresser because I don't have wall space to mount permanently. But what I've done differently is putting an aluminum U-channel frame around the edges before covering with flannel. The frame really gives it stability but still keeps the whole thing lightweight. You just need to get the right size channel to match the thickness of your board. There's also a special caulking glue that bonds aluminum to styrofoam. Hope that helps!

I order Starz the week before the next season of Outlander begins and cancel it the week after it ends. While it is playing I recorded it and watch it later. In fact, last month I picked two weekends and watched all of the latest season at once. It's like curling up with a good book or a great friend for a few days.

I always make a scrappy back, with left over fabrics. I purposely buy more fabric than the instructions give. Then I can write the name of the person I'm giving it to, or put extra blocks in, or do stars, a string of hearts...the list goes on and on!

On another note, I don't have a sewing bird, but would love to have one! Now I have a reason to start visiting antique shops, thanks!

So excited you are an Outlander fan! Started reading the books in the 90s also and have read them several times. Can't wait till 9 comesout. And the show is excellent! Just finished a quilt with Outlander fabric for my great friend for Christmas. She and I went to Scotland in 2000 looking for Jamie.

Bonnie, The ads that cover part of the photos are back. For the past couple of weeks after your upgrade they were not there. I do not mind you having ads, however these cannot be removed and cover your photos. Thanks for all you do and can hardly wait for Quiltville Retreat to open.

The sewing birds are something new for me. "Sew" fun... And my house is proof thatI tiling and quilting are totally related. Have also been enjoying the slideshows of the past days and like seeing how quilters are taking Bonnie's patterns and making them their own. She is leading an army of piecers! As for backings, well, anything goes as I see it. I am a design-wall quilter (use 3 large white styrofoam panels plus pins) which is the perfect tool for making improv pieced backs from my stash and the scraps left over from the top sewing. I like the backs to contribute some way to the fronts and the planned use of the work also contributes to my decisions. I have no single solution beyond listening to what the quilt is saying to me. And like you, Bonnie, I love reducing the quantity of older fabrics which are still lurking in the storage bins. Sewing backs this way has increased my confidence and skills in all aspects of my quilting and it also helps my mind let go of the project I've been so focused on and often inspires the next one.

Looking at the picture of your shower you must be expecting VERY TALL quilters! I would not be able to adjust the flow as I could not reach it. Heck I think I would have a hard time reach the soap/shampoo holder!!! As for your comment on putting the shelves up high on the walls..........not too high. One should be able to enjoy pictures, etc when they are seated too.

I don't know what the public libraries are like in your area. In mine (Boston suburbs), many of them are connected in a network and you can get things (LIKE OUTLANDER DVDS!) from a library many towns away without having to travel to that town -- you put something on hold and the libraries shuffle things about to get it to your local library. That's how I've seen Outlander so far!

I have 2 design boards, just like Shirl S up above described, except each one is 4 feet by about 7.5 feet because my ceilings aren't high enough to do 8 feet! I used cotton batting for mine. When I need to place blocks way up high, I use a small step-stool (I'm 5' 5.5"). Boy, those design boards have been such a game-changer for me!

Your post office is looking fantastic! Do you have a small cot in the little center room in the back? That's what I'd have, because I'd probably want a place to nap. ;)

The thread display box is a wonderful piece. Especially with the old spools of thread and the ones with the labels on them are a treasure. I have been a lover of chickens since I was a child. My Dad kept a lot of chickens and my Mom cleaned the eggs to be sold. I can still hear the peep peep peep of the baby chicks when we got several big boxes of them. It was so much fun to hold the little soft fuzzy chicks. I would love to be able to have a collection of scissor chickens and rooster. The painted wood is beautiful. I have seen Fabuloso in in the store. Now I will have to try it. My husband and I both love the Outlander. We haven't read the books though. I noticed the dark red and green and white quilt on a sofa next to the display box of thread. Sometime in the "80s" I hand pieced a queen size Carpenters Wheel in those colors. I saw a picture of the quilt in a quilt book of an 1850s quilt in the Carpenters Wheel design. hnd quilted it and it is on my bed now. I have a lot of queen sz. quilts I have made over the years and it is so fun to put a different one on my bed every few months. Dark green and dark red were very popular colors in the 1850s. I piece together the left over fabrics I use in a quilt I need to back plus any other fabrics thrown in to get the size I want. Thank you for such a nice newsy letter. I like to read your letters so I can keep up with all you are doing. I'm looking forward to seeing how the decorating goes.

Hi Bonnie, my design wall is actually a portable wall (6'high by 8'wide) which I covered with felt. I'm going to remove the felt and put some foam board or something in between, but not urgent. It works pretty well now, so I'm not worried. I have a large foundation pieced quilt on it at the moment so that I don't forget how to join the blocks. When I needed to look at another quilt, I clamped a large flannelette sheet up, and now I have a double layered design wall - yay me. If it wasn't right under the air conditioner, the blocks would stick really well.

As for quilt backs, I'm a firm believer in having something interesting on the back as well - seems like such a waste of quilt space to me. The foundation pieced diamond quilt I am most of the way though, is going to have string pieced 18" wide flying geese on the back made from the fabrics from the front, and they'll be pieced into an hombre back. I can't wait to see it. I think the only quilts I've made that haven't had pieced / interesting backs have been when I've used fleecy on baby quilts, but that nearly counts as it normally relates to the front.

Still love seeing all you pics, and one day I'll send a photo of my patchwork inspired tiling on my cooktop splashback. I love the way your showers have turned out, can't wait to see them with their doors.